That Stupid Photo
by Iehu
Summary: What is this mysterious photo - and why is Shepard carrying it around? One-shot.


Tali wasn't used to the all-human crew on board the Normandy, but she was starting to understand why some species both feared and respected the human race. In the short time she'd been aboard she'd seen some of the soldiers on board go from being completely happy and carefree to upset in less than a second. It seemed that their rapid change from one emotion to another was normal to them, but Tali wasn't used to it. She was from a place where every quarian was actually rather civil and calm most of the time, she'd rarely seen another quarian very upset before.

But if you misplaced a human's coffee cup in the morning, you were sure to hear yelling and random cursing as they shuffled around to find it. Today it was Ashley's turn to have her coffee cup taken out of its home on board the Normandy.

"Did anyone see it at all? Alenko have you seen my coffee cup?"

Kaidan rolled his eyes. "For the fourth time Williams, no I haven't seen your coffee cup. Just use one of the blank ones."

Ashley pouted for a second before giving in, picking up a blank coffee mug and pouring a cup of coffee for herself. "I loved that mug."

Shepard sighed from her spot next to Tali. Tali could hear her mumble something her translator didn't catch right away – something Shepard called a…fairy? She'd have to ask her about it later when Shepard wandered down into engineering, like she did every day. Tali noticed something in front of Shepard, who was staring at it intently. It didn't look like anything Tali had ever seen before. It was like a holo, but flat and 2-dimensional. And it looked old, like it had been folded several times and torn.

"Shepard, what is that?" Tali asked finally, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Shepard looked up, a fork halfway up to her mouth. "What's what?"

"She's talking about the photo, Skipper." Williams sat down at the table on Tali's other side. "You know, the one we always see you staring at."

Shepard frowned. "Thanks for pointing that out."

"No problem," Ashley took a sip of her coffee.

"I've always wanted to know, who's in the photo anyways?" Kaidan piped up from his spot at the table.

Shepard slid the photo to Tali. "Here, Tali. It's what we call a photo – a piece of paper that has a picture printed on it. Most days people use holos."

Tali gently picked it up, being careful not to rip it. She could see three people standing side by side in dark black uniforms, smiling at whoever was taking the picture. Tali didn't recognize Shepard at first, and when she did she was amazed at how young Shepard looked in the photo. She didn't recognize the other two people – a man and a woman – both around Shepard's age.

"Those two in the picture with me, that's Josiah Deacon – he's a Commander now too." Shepard pointed at the man. "He's an engineer like you actually; was great with electronic locks during our N7 training."

"Wait, the butch of Torfan?" Ashley leaned forward. "You trained with the butch of Torfan?"

Shepard shook her head. "He wasn't the butcher of Torfan when I trained with him. Just some hot-shot engineer that bragged he could open any door he came across."

"Could he?" Kaidan set his fork down. "Could he open any door?"

Shepard nodded. "Any door we came across. How long it took him, well," Shepard smiled. "He could take anywhere from a minute to an hour."

"And the woman," Tali asked.

Shepard looked like she was thinking. "Lauren Hackett – she's not alliance anymore."

"What happened?" Tali asked.

Tali noticed the table's occupants looked sad – as if remembering some great tragedy. Kaidan looked at his coffee and frowned, glancing at Shepard, who was very silent. Ashley was doing it too. She understood what they weren't saying. Something bad had happened to this woman.

"Akuze happened," Shepard shifted. "There was a massacre – fifty alliance soldiers died and she was the only survivor. She retired."

"I'm sorry," Tali said quietly, tilting to her mask to examine Shepard's face.

She was biting her lip, a strand of dark black hair hanging in front of her eyes. Shepard finally managed to shrug off what was bothering her and brightened up. "But Hackett was a deadly biotic – one of the best I've ever known."

Kaidan stared at Shepard. Shepard smiled smugly. "Sorry Kaidan, but you of all people should know of the stories."

Kaidan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I've heard."

Tali tilted her helmet again. "What stories?"

Shepard smiled at Tali, leaning over to point at Lauren's face in the picture. "She got pissed off at someone once and went to charge them with her biotics – and she went right through a wall. It was a steel wall that was two inches thick and had four load bearing columns in it. I've never seen anyone else do it before, and I doubt they could."

Tali looked at the picture. She couldn't imagine the short, blonde woman going through a wall with biotics. But from the way Kaidan and Shepard sounded, the story must be true. Besides, why would Shepard lie to her about two other people she'd never even heard of before?


End file.
